Academic advising at Dartmouth consists of a system of resources, which includes deans, faculty advisors, departmental chairs and other faculty and administrators. With a modicum of initiative, you can mobilize the many parts of this system and thereby acquire all of the academic advice that you should need. It is important to remember, however, that advice must be sought in a timely manner— last minute advice is rarely of good quality, and no one part of the system can provide the answers to all of your questions. In a given term, you should expect to have to engage in more than one conversation to put together a thoughtful course schedule.
The first-year deans are available to offer advice and assistance on academic, personal, and social matters throughout your first year. The deans have a broad knowledge of the curriculum and can help you to choose courses and contemplate possible majors.
Each first-year student is paired with a faculty advisor who will assist you with the selection of courses when you arrive in the Fall. This advisor has been chosen for you in an effort to match his or her academic field with your expressed academic interests. However, because students' interests are initially clustered in a relatively small number of fields, and because students' interests usually change at least once in the course of the first year, the match is rarely an exact one. Faculty advisors should always be able to speak with you about general academic planning, but may need to refer you to other resources in order to answer your specific questions. As you begin to define your academic and intellectual interests, departmental advisers in your intended major assume greater responsibility for advising.
